Pick your Desert Island ads, they said. Your five favourite ads from all time. A pretty simple task you’d think.
Within minutes my layout pad is a sea of lists, scribbles, circles, arrows, underlines and question marks. I could give you my favourite 50. But five?
So, I settled on the first five I wrote down. How often are the first ideas the best anyway..
Desert Island Ads
Guinness Surfers
It might be 25 years old, but wow, this stunning piece of film hasn’t aged one bit.
A great idea built on a simple product truth. Told in the most inspiring, original and beautiful way.
Not much advertising can be labelled as art, but I reckon this beauty can.
The craft is off the scale. The opening shot, the script, the voice, the cinematography, the edit, the horses, the silence. And that bloody track! Boom.
Every detail perfect. Timeless. Goosebumps.
I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this in the 25 years since it was made but stick me on an island with just this one and I’d be pretty happy.
Calm – Last Video
Next, something totally different. But no less goosebump inducing.
The power of a simple idea has probably never been more powerful than here.
People think they know what suicidal people should look like. They think they show the signs: Crying. Anger. Despair.
And when people don’t display these signs, nobody intervenes.
‘Suicide doesn’t always look suicidal’ is a heartbreakingly powerful campaign which features images of seemingly happy people. Only to reveal they were the last videos taken before they took their own life. Such a simple idea that stops you in your tracks.
Cadbury’s – Gorilla
I think this is the only ad that I can actually remember where I was and what I was doing, the first time I saw it. A proper moment.
Maybe because I’m a bit of a closet Phil Collins fan. Maybe because it is just totally different to anything I’d seen before.
The suspense. The build. The neck crack. The pure joy.
The ‘Glass and a half full of joy’ campaign went on, but this was never bettered. And the fact that Cadbury initially rejected it only adds to its legendary status.
KFC – Chicken Town
If you’ve ever been walking through town at two in the morning hunting for fried chicken (and I have), you’ll know that KFC have a lot if imitators. CFC, SFC, DFC, PFC and many more are dotted around Britain’s high streets offering often debatable versions of the Colonel’s special recipe. Rather than hide from it, KFC have used their imitators front and centre in their Chicken Town campaign. A bold strategy.
Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery has never been more true. The godfather of chicken rides through town in his Lincoln Continental in this lovely cinematic spot. And I love the brand reveal in the reflection of the red paintwork.
Plus, I’ve always wanted to use Nino Rota’s ‘Love Theme’, or the Godfather theme as us less cultured would call it, in an ad. So, I’m super jealous.
Nike – Torres
Finally, I’ve got to have a football ad to watch on the island. So many great Nike ones to choose from. Parklife? Airport? The Cage?
But as a Liverpool fan (no, I’m not from Liverpool, and no, I don’t have family from there either) I had to choose this one.
One of the greatest terrace songs brought to life on a journey around Liverpool. So many lovely little bits of humour to enjoy. The paella pan stall, the Caverna Club, the guys painting the yellow (and red) lines. It makes me happy. And it identified a real cultural phenomenon of Spanish Scousers at the time.
Torres might not have won us a trophy, but he gave us a cracking ad.
Adios La!
Paul Wallett is ECD at Krow Group.
